What Others Are Saying

Jobs + Economy

“It’s clear to me that the tremendous potential of this technology to create jobs and reduce costs for law enforcement operations cannot be overstated.” - Senator Al Franken

“It’s important for Oklahoma to be on the cutting edge of that research and technology and development and developing the type of skilled, educated work force that will continue to help the industry grow … It places Oklahoma in the top leadership position for unmanned aerials systems research … It will reap great benefits once again for our economy.” - Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin

“I can hardly think of a single industry where there wouldn’t be a use for these aircraft.” - Kyle Snyder, director of the NextGen Air Transportation Center, N.C. State University

“[Unmanned systems] jobs are all high quality and highly paid, highly technical and skilled jobs. Certainly it will support a number of positions and even new positions. But it will also support additional jobs relating to some of the entities that will have to come to Oklahoma to test the equipment.” - Stephen McKeever, Oklahoma Science and Technology Secretary

“That’s why the UAVs will be a big alternative…It brings down costs, and you can fly whenever you want.” - Balajj Ramachandran, Nicholls State University

Enhance Public Safety

“There are tremendous benefits to society from [UAS] technology. The technology can help first responders quickly identify the nature and scope of, example, forest fire or natural disaster. It may help police respond more quickly in cases involving hostage rescue, missing children, child abduction.” – Senator Charles Grassley

“Operations contribute to the overall safety of our mission by ensuring the area is clear of personnel while minimizing the number of people necessary to patrol the area.” - Staff Sgt. Brandon Johnson, Raven UAS operator and crime prevention officer

“It gives firefighters the advantage of having an eye in the sky. Firefighters can get a view when they couldn’t get a view before, instead of dispatching someone.” - Mike Mocerino, developer of the Darley Stinger UAS

“We are fortunate to be situated in an area with agencies (Houston PD, State Police, and DEA) that do have air assets and we have certainly called upon them to assist us in a variety of ways.” - William R. McDaniel, chief deputy, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office

“The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has found great success in the deployment of unmanned aerial systems over the last two years… Robotics have been instrumental in extending the capability of our officers, and have done so safely and effectively. As this new market emerges we hope to direct effective, innovative and relevant robotics products for the law enforcement community.” - Stan Hilkey, Sheriff, Mesa County

“Real-life imagery is vitally important to saving lives and preserving property. The availability of unmanned aircraft would have afforded us the capability to more quickly map out areas where we were more immediately needed, instead of depending on dated satellite imagery.” - Maj. Gen. Myles Deering, adjutant general, Oklahoma

Mitigate and Monitor Disasters

“You don’t want to put a person in there, tornadoes and those storms can be violent, so you don’t want to fly near them. An unmanned aircraft is the solution to get the science measurements that are needed.” - Prof. Eric Frew, University of Colorado

“We fly some of our unmanned aircraft into hurricanes to gather data, and there’s a high risk when you do that that the aircraft is not coming back. It’s one thing to lose an airplane and sensors, but it’s another to lose a human.” - Chuck Johnson, NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, California

“The water vehicles can gather data in a storm that can’t be gathered safely in any other way,” - Alan Leonardi, deputy director, NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

“Our research clearly shows that drones may provide utilities a tool that could reduce outage restoration time. Using live steaming video information, utility system operators would be able to dramatically improve damage assessment.” - Matthew Olearczyk, senior program manager, Distribution Research, The Electric Power Research Institute

“We now hold in our hands a powerful and beneficial opportunity to uncover secrets of an atmosphere that can transform from gentle to horrific in minutes. Taken to its full potential, we will be able to measure, observe, warn and recover like never before.” - Gary England, severe storm meteorologist, KWTV, Oklahoma City

Protect the Environment

“We use [unmanned aircrafts] as a sensor platform to collect imagery for a variety of applications including wildlife and ecological research.” - John Perry, University of Florida Unmanned Aerial Systems

“[UAS] are able to carry out arduous and dangerous tasks that would otherwise be expensive or difficult for a human to undertake. For example, additional law enforcement surveillance drones will potentially be used for scientific experiments, agricultural research, geological surveying, pipeline maintenance and search and rescue operations. So there are many valuable uses.” - Senator Patrick Leahy

Create Efficiency in Agriculture

“[Farmers] can use an unmanned system to look at weed encroachment. If they can identify where the major problems are, the farmer doesn’t have to spray the whole field with herbicides. It’s better for the environment and it saves the farmer money.” - Mark Blanks, flight manager, Unmanned Aviation Systems, Kansas State University

“The state of Georgia is a nexus where taking this technology into agriculture can be thoroughly explored. We at GTRI have a lot of experience with unmanned systems, FPTD has the expertise in food sensing, Georgia Tech has extensive experience in robotics, agriculture is the state’s largest business and our partners at the University of Georgia have the agriculture expertise.” - Gary McMurray, chief of GTRI’s Food Processing Technology Division (FPTD)